Sunday, November 19, 7:04 AM

The Flynn-Fletcher Backyard

Phineas

"What'cha doin'?" Isabella inquires upon her entry into the backyard.

Hearing the sound of her voice, I grin, turn around, and remove my mask that I use whenever constructing something with Ferb, who at the moment is drilling a screw into a piece of wood. "Nothin' much. We're still kind of planning," I reply as I walk over to her, but she doesn't appear to be listening as she is looking around the backyard. On her face is a confused expression.

"Where…is everybody?"

I sling an arm around her shoulder and lead her over to our latest invention. I lower my tone down to a whisper even though there's no way anyone could hear us. Ferb, after all, is making a lot of noise over there (for him, anyway), and my parents are both out somewhere unclassified. "We told everyone we wouldn't be doing anything," I mutter to her. "Except for you, Baljeet, and Buford."

Her eyes have grown very wide, even wider than usual. "But…Phineas, you lied. How did you do that?" We've now reached Ferb, who is examining the two wooden pieces and frowning disgustedly. He barely makes an effort to wave at Isabella before returning his gaze to the subject at matter and putting his hand to his chin.

I frown slightly at him, but he doesn't appear to notice, so I just shrug. "I did it over the phone, so it wasn't too bad." I change the subject, since the whole topic of lying just makes me uncomfortable, period. "Anyway, so I did it because I figured it was such a long time since the five of us had done anything together. Why not do something while we still can? After all, it won't be long before we have to leave for college and whatnot."

She nods slowly, looking as though she is still processing the information. Not that I blame her. She, Ferb, Buford, Baljeet, and I haven't done an invention with just the five of us since middle school. "That's cool…I guess. So when are the other two getting here?"

"Sometime soon." I shrug and release her, grabbing my mask once again. "But that's okay. Right now, we're just messing around with wood and seeing what we can do with it."

"Since it can be used as both timber and fuel, there are many options that are out there in which it can be constructed," Ferb mutters. For some reason, he looks a lot more irritated than usual. Maybe it's because of an argument with Emily or something. But that's unlikely. The two of them never fight.

Isabella leans down, takes a magnifying glass out of her pocket, and examines the pieces of wood, squinting her eyes while doing so. "Hmm. Well, it does look multifunctional. That's typically the case with wood." She looks sheepish. "But you probably already knew that."

I rub the back of my head. "Yeah." I sigh. "It's just getting harder to think of ideas we haven't done yet. That's why we're barely doing anything." I look over at my brother, who has now taken the mask off of his head and is rubbing his eyes. "Hey, Ferb. Do you want to do another musical-"

"No," he interjects immediately. Did he just roll his eyes?

I blink in surprise and glance briefly at Isabella, who has a somewhat shocked expression on her face as well. Ferb isn't normally so rude. "Um…all right." I look around me and frown. "Hey. Where's Perry?"

Perry…sort of.

"Morning, Agent P."

These were the first words the platypus heard each morning, and quite frankly, he was getting restless of hearing them each morning. He grunted and adjusted the dark brown fedora on his head absentmindedly as he listened to whatever else the old man had to say about what Doofenshmirtz was up to for the day.

"So, before I inform you of your mission, I need to ask you one thing."

Perry bit the bottom of his bill. He had just a small feeling this wasn't going to go well. His owner had reacted quite negatively when the platypus drew it out for him on the white board.

"How did Ferb react to the memory eraser breaking and Carl having to start over in the process of fixing it? Speaking of that…" He glanced off screen, presumably at the unpaid intern. "How is that going, Carl?"

Carl sighed. "Not good." He walked onto the screen, and Perry doubled back and stared at him in horror. The twenty-something year old was covered in what looked like black soot. Monogram looked even more horrified, if that was possible.

"Great googly moogly!" he shouted, his eyes growing large. "What in the world happened?" He slapped his forehead and groaned.

"It…kind of exploded on me." Carl took off his glasses and rubbed them on Monogram's shirt, making the man moan silently. The intern didn't seem to notice. "It wasn't my fault though, sir, I swear. I was just taking a look at the different screws that were inside the engine, since, as you know, they were the ones I discovered had caused the amnesia-inator to break anyway, and BOOM! It just went everywhere." He sighed again. "I have a feeling that I may have pressed the self-destruct button inadvertently."

Monogram rolled his eyes. "Well, if that was the case, I can't say I'm surprised. Get back to work." He then returned his attention back to Perry as soon as Carl walked off of the screen. "Anyway Agent P, sorry about that. So what was Ferb's reaction?"

Perry shook his head slowly.

"So…it wasn't pretty, overall?"

Again, Perry shook his head.

"I can't say I'm surprised about that, either. I'm anxiously awaiting for the day in which I will be surprised about something big, like my birthday. I haven't been surprised about my birthday since right before my days at…The Academy." After thinking of a series of flashbacks, he looked down to see the agent giving him an unimpressed look, in which he cleared his throat. "Anyway. Your mission. Doofenshmirtz was spotted buying a bunch of plastic tableware and some plastic bowls one would use for eating. This looks somewhat suspicious. So get out there and stop whatever he's doing!"

Perry gave him a quick salute before running over to his hovercraft. In a matter of seconds, he was out of the lair and flying over to the place he went to almost every day.

Monogram watched him leave before sighing and glancing at Carl. At the moment, he was standing by the amnesia-inator and examining it, still covered in black gunk everywhere except for his clothing, most likely having had changed. "Carl…don't you want to take a shower or something?" he wondered. "That's a…lot of…uh, stuff on you."

Carl shrugged, not moving from his spot in any way whatsoever. "That doesn't really matter to me right now. What does matter to me right now is the fact that Ferb still knows of Agent P's identity, and it's been what? Two months?"

"Approximately."

"So I'm trying my very best to get the amnesia-inator working again so we can take the memory of Agent P away other than the way he's always known him. I'm trying to believe Ferb wouldn't tell anyone else on purpose, but…" He hesitated before continuing. "You never know. And he clearly wasn't happy about having to wait longer to have his memory erased. I'm just afraid he'll say something to someone."

Monogram nodded. "You're exactly right, Carl. I just have this nagging feeling that Phineas is going to figure it out in one way or another."

"Again, I don't think he would do it on purpose." Carl bit his lip, wiping off some of the soot. "But Phineas is smart. Eventually, he's going to figure out why his brother's acting so weird and will act on it. That's why I really want to get this done as soon as possible."

Back to Phineas.

I have a feeling that my brother's acting weird for a reason I'm not supposed to know of.

Buford and Baljeet arrived a few minutes ago and are now assisting us in inventing a giant game board (out of leftover wood pieces, of course) that can be automatically transformed into a different board game with a press of a button. Isabella came up with the idea after we played an impromptu game of Skiddley Whiffers.

Ferb, however, has been kind of…out of it, if that makes sense. He'll bang a nail every once in a while, but then he'll stop doing anything and just kind of sit there for a few seconds, staring off into space. It isn't until Buford, who is next to him, pokes him in the back that he will get back to work.

"Yo, Dinner Bell," he mutters quietly enough to me so that no else will hear. He's glancing at Ferb as he does this. "What's wrong with Beanpole o'er there? He's bein' weird, even for him."

I shrug, ignoring the last part of his sentence. "I don't know. He's been acting this way for a while."

Buford just kind of sits there for a second before continuing. "Is he havin' problems with British Gal or somethin'? By the way…where is she? And where's everyone else?"

"Long story." I don't want to talk about lying again. "And that's what I thought, too, but I don't think so. They never argue or disagree about anything. Plus, I don't want to be in their business if that is the case."

Buford nods slowly, seeming to process the information. "…Kay." His phone buzzes in his pocket, and he glances down as he pulls it out of his pocket. His face brightens as he pulls up the message. "It's V." He reads the text, and all of a sudden, his face falls. "Oh…crap."

"What?" Baljeet wonders as he puts a band-aid around his thumb, having giving himself a splinter. Apparently, we weren't as quiet as we thought we were being, because Isabella is looking up from the other side of the giant disc we're constructing, too. Ferb has gone inside, probably to go to the bathroom or something. Really, who knows at this point what he's doing? It's really been bugging me how he's been acting cold to us all day. It's just not like him.

"Here's what it says." Buford imitates his girlfriend as he reads the text message out loud, snapping me out of my thoughts and paying attention to him. "Buford, where the hell are you? You know I asked you to hear my cover of that old song we were talking about earlier. The one from Bon Jovi? Anyway, so yeah. Call me." He moans and turns the phone off. "Not happenin', V. Sorry."

We all kind of just stand there for a second, not really sure how to respond. Isabella coughs.

"At least your girlfriend is not texting you constantly," Baljeet moans. He pulls his own cell phone out and glares at it as if it was a pencil point that constantly kept on breaking even after you sharpened it a billion times. "Ginger knows I do not text, for crying out loud."

Um…okay? I squirm uncomfortably and glance at Isabella, who seems to get the message across and nods. She pushes her black hair back before sighing and clasping her hands together the way she used to as the Fireside Girl troop leader."Um, guys, we should probably get back to work," she advises the two. "We're falling behind schedule here. Normally, we're done by now."

"That's because Ferb's been a lazy ass," Buford moans after he types something to Vienna on his phone and shoves it in his pocket, and I glare at him momentarily. He knows how I feel about that kind of language. Unfortunately, he doesn't even flinch and just keeps on going. "I mean, come on. He usually gets this stuff done in like an hour, at most. Maximum."

All right. I can't stand talking about Ferb behind his back anymore. It's just making me upset when I don't want to be. It's Sunday, for crying out loud! One of the two days of the week in which we actually get some time to invent. And we're just wasting that time talking about nothing in particular. "That's it." I take the mask off of my head, where it has perched for the past ten minutes, and rest it onto the ground before walking into the house. My friends and girlfriend stare at me in surprise as I do this, but I don't really care. I need to find out why Ferb's acting the way he is.

Luckily, it doesn't take me long to find him. Much to my surprise, he's just simply sitting down on the couch and staring at the television, which is tuned to "Pinhead Pierre", this old show that our dad used to love to watch as a kid. Actually, he still does. It's a little weird.

As I'm staring at him in disbelief, he finally turns his head slowly towards my direction. Like usual, he says nothing, only blinking at me. I sigh. I don't really want to have to confront him about anything suspicious since that's really not like me to do so, but I have to. I hate seeing my brother in such a bad mood. "Hey," I say to break the silence. "How…are you?"

Great question, Phineas, I tell myself sarcastically. Great question that he's most certainly going to answer whole.

Just as I previously assumed, Ferb just shrugs and once again stares at the TV. However, I can tell by the look on his face that he isn't paying attention to it. He's twiddling his thumbs and is biting his lip a little.

"Um…" I hesitate, not really knowing what to say. "What are you watching?"

He points at the TV.

"Yeah, I know that." I chuckle, just to try and relieve some of the tension in the room. "But, uh…why aren't you outside with the rest of us? We haven't done something with just the five of us in…five years? Six?"

My brother looks away.

"Really, Ferb," I insist, sitting myself down on the couch. "What's wrong? You're not acting…right."

Finally, he glances at me. I can hear him take a small intake of breath before lifting himself off of the cushions and beginning to walk to the door. I begin to frown. He never even answered my question. "Ferb, please," I plead, rushing over to the door and blocking it so he can't get past. He raises an eyebrow at me, but I don't stop. I have to know what's wrong with him. "Is it a problem with one of our friends, and that's why you can't invent? Is it something to do with Emily? Is it-"

"No," he interrupts. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and avoids my gaze. "Emily and I are fine." He lets a smile creep up at the corner of his bottom lip. "Just fine."

I blink, not really knowing what that's supposed to mean. Maybe I'll ask Isabella later. "Um…okay. But really, though, what's the matter with you? I'm just concerned, that's all. I don't want you to have to do something you don't want to do, but this is normally something you love to do."

My green-headed brother shrugs for the umpteenth time in the past ten minutes. "It's…not anything you need to know," he informs me, shaking his head to one side to get some hair out of his eyes. He's still not looking me straight in the eye. "It's…personal business."

I give him a strange look. "Personal…business?" I echo.

He just nods slowly. Apparently, he's already spoken everything he needs to for the day. I try not to show my irritation as I reply. "Well… all right." Before I open the door for us to head back outside, though, I look straight into his dark blue irises. "But Ferb…if there really is something going on, you know you can tell me." I manage to show him a grin. "We've always told each other everything important."

He smiles back at me, just a little bit, before pushing the door open and heading back into the backyard, immediately picking up a few pieces of wood, stacking them, and then nailing them all together instantly. I can see our other friends trying to catch my eye as I enter the daylight as well, but I don't let them, instead glancing suspiciously at my brother.

I know I'm not normally so nosey about other peoples' lives, even the ones of my family members. But for some reason, this seems different.

I need to figure out what's wrong with Ferb, and I need to figure it out soon.

Next Chapter Preview: We finally go back to Adyson when she reveals to her family on Thanksgiving the secret she's been keeping from them for two months. What will they say? What will they do?

Phew…this chapter took forever. I'm sorry. But hey, it was good to actually see Phineas, right? I hate that I've practically made him a side character in this story. He's one of the two titular characters in the show, for heaven's sake! But yeah, I'll try to make him appear more often from now on.

Hmm…I guess I should mention that I have a new poll up…it's kind of a random question, but I just want to know the answer to it. And what's a question without an answer, right? So feel free to answer that if you have an account. If you don't want to, either, that's cool, too. Whatever works best for your lives at this point is fine. My life's been pretty hectic, too, unfortunately. :/

I'm going to try my best to get the next chapter up far more quickly…but I can't guarantee it. You know what? Forget what I just said. It won't happen. It just won't. I know it, and I'm sorry, since the next chapter is one you've been waiting for. *sigh* All right. I'll shut up now and actually let you guys carry on with your lives…